Food and Nutrition

In partnership with the Columbia Water Center, researchers from Punjab Agricultural University have initiated a multi-year project to implement and field-test diverse water-saving technologies, practices and policies aimed at reducing agricultural water use in the state of Punjab, particularly among rice farmers. In last year’s trial, the most successful project involved the installation of inexpensive tensiometers in the fields of over 500 farmers, yielding water savings of 30-35 percent.

Concurrently with the tensiometer trials, the team also recruited a smaller number of farmers to adopt a different way of cultivating rice altogether: Direct seeding of rice.

In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

Conventional rice production requires standing water

The following article is a literature survey of water management interventions taken up in Indian fields to improve the water productivity which would in turn reduce the groundwater decline.

Wastewater/Sanitation

• India: Land of many cell phones, but fewer toilets
• Rural women help Himachal fight open defecation
• Eco toilets at the Pollutetech 2010 exhibition in IISc draw attention
• 6 districts in Karnataka achieve near total hygiene standards
• Poor sanitation lets super bug thrive in India

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra has been initiated by the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). This is a loose alliance of scores of groups across the country, drawn from more than 20 states. The network consists of farmers’ organizations, consumer groups, women’s organizations, environmental organizations, organic farmers’ cooperatives, individual scientists, doctors, health activists and others.

The revelation by the Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in the Lok Sabha on 26 July 2010 that over 11,700 tonnes of foodgrains worth Rs 6.86 crore were found "damaged" in government godowns is astonishing in a country where many people go without food.

This set of case studies is a part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covering themes of agriculture, biodiversity, education, forestry, governance, health, movements and water. The case studies related to agriculture and food security are summarised below:

This book is essential reading for economists, power sector officials, power generation companies and environmentalists alike.

Dr.Bharat Jhunjhumwala holds a BSc degree in physics, chemistry and mathematics. He earned his PhD in food and Resource Economics from University of Florida at a tender age of 23 years. He joined Indian institute of management, Bangalore as Assistant professor immediately thereafter. He lived in a slum for two years to understand poverty and organized the Trade Union at IIM during the Emergency. He resigned from the IIM and became a consultant to donor agencies like Swiss Development Cooperation, Oxfam, Care, Overseas Development Institute and others mainly on rural development and watershed issues. He writes a column on economic issues for about 50 newspapers in india. He lives on the banks of River Alaknanda in uttarakhand on the feet of Lord Badri Vishal.

This project report by WWF-ICRISAT begins by highlighting the importance of rice as a major source of calories for half the world’s population and also as the single largest source of employment and income for the rural population. 

It makes connections between rice production and its impact on the environment and argues for need to adopt techniques such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to improve produce and reduce the damage to the environment. 

For example, current practices at genetic uniformity can make crops more vulnerable to pests and diseases. They are also wasteful of increasingly scarce and costly resources such as water and fossil fuels. Heavily fertilised, continuously flooded rice fields produce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, and misuse of inorganic fertilisers and agrochemicals results in soil and water pollution. Evidence indicates that there has been a gradual slowdown in the yield gains of rice in many countries.

Paddy, one the country's staple crops is cultivated all over the country, barring parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Rajasthan. This set of interesting maps about Paddy and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) from the SRI India website, maintained by the WWF-ICRISAT Project (a joint initiative of WWF and ICRISAT), give a bird's eye view of the districts under Paddy and SRI Paddy cultivation, and the Paddy productivity in various districts of the country.

Districts with Paddy cultivation and where SRI approach has been introduced: Of the total 604 districts in India, paddy is cultivated in 564 districts. Of these, in 246 districts, SRI paddy cultivation approach has been introduced (data as of 2010). The spread of SRI has been most widespread in Uttarakhand, Eastern Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as 50-95% of the districts in these regions/states have presence of SRI.